Data centre spending projected at US$2.1 trillion by 2028
BofA Global Research estimates IT accounts for 78% of data centre construction spending, with servers the largest cost component.
Worldwide expenditure on data centres could reach US$2.1 trillion by 2028, according to BofA Global Research, which projects US$1 trillion (RM4.1 trillion) for 2026. Its Oct 23 note linked the increase to expanding demand for AI services and their development.
The brokerage sees the market potentially reaching US$2.93 trillion by 2030, against a value of US$275 billion in 2022. It expects AI-led expansion to produce a market-wide CAGR of 37% from 2025 to 2030.
BofA's construction estimate was US$49 million per megawatt for data centres. For neoclouds — facilities focused on AI — the estimate was about US$57 million per megawatt, although their space requirements are lower than those of traditional data centres.
Within the cost breakdown, BofA ranked servers first at US$31.4 million per megawatt and networking next at US$4.8 million per megawatt.
The brokerage placed most other functions within a range of US$100,000 to US$1.1 million per megawatt. These included cooling, chillers, backup power, generators, power distribution and switchgear.
